Clockmaster Quen

Quen’s face is pale and finely cracked, framed by brass fittings and glass vessels. Strangers sometimes hear the knocking aboard Deep Mechanism, see the clockmaster, and conclude that the captain and ship are parts of a single mysterious engine. Quen has corrected the misunderstanding often enough to make the explanation brief.

The knocking comes from the valves. Quen knows because Quen designed the arrangement, inspected the fittings, and can identify a change in their rhythm from across a room. The sound is familiar company during long watches, though it becomes less reassuring if a beat goes missing.

As an engineer, Quen values a mechanism that can be opened and understood by the people responsible for it. Apprentices are welcome aboard if they are willing to listen carefully and admit what they do not know. Quen has little patience for invented legends when the real work is interesting enough to deserve attention.